Delayed Diagnosis Claims

Delayed diagnosis occurs when you raise a concern with a medical professional, such as your GP, health centre or a hospital, and you do not receive a correct diagnosis within a reasonable time.

Some common examples of delayed diagnoses include:

• Delayed diagnosis septicaemia
• Delayed cancer diagnosis
• Delayed stroke diagnosis
• Delayed diagnosis of a heart condition
• A delay in diagnosing you in an A&E department
• A delay in your GP recognising that your symptoms were of concern and referring you to a specialist

There are many reasons why your diagnosis could be delayed and ways in which this could impact your treatment, including:

• Test results or X-rays being lost or overlooked
• Failure to look at test results or X-rays
• Not sending you for tests
• Not sending you for treatment
• Not prescribing medication

You may be able to make a delayed diagnosis claim if you believe that:

• Your condition was not picked up when it reasonably should have been by medical experts; and
• Your health has deteriorated because of this or it has become harder to treat you.

You are strongly advised to speak to an expert delayed diagnosis solicitor. If you call us, we can go through what has happened with you and give you our initial opinion.

We will look at issues such as when you were finally diagnosed, when you initially spoke to a medical practitioner, what their response was and what outcome you are now dealing with.

We will need to establish that you had a patient/medical practitioner relationship, that the healthcare professional or team failed in their duty to provide you with a reasonable standard of care or were negligent and that you suffered harm as a result.

The harm could include:

• A deterioration of your condition
• Additional pain or a worsening of your symptoms because of the deterioration
• Your health suffering because of the delayed diagnosis
• An illness such as cancer spreading to another part or parts of your body
• Your condition becoming terminal
• Another condition developing because of the late diagnosis

We can work to establish that you were failed by your doctor, health centre or hospital, for example, because they did not do enough to find out what was causing your symptoms, because they did not adequately identify what was wrong and the treatment you needed or because they were negligent in looking at test results.

The amount payable for delay in diagnosis claims can be substantial. It will depend on the severity of the harm you have suffered.

If your claim is proved, you will potentially be entitled to receive two types of damages:

• General damages
• Special damages

General damages

General damages are compensation for the pain and suffering caused by the delay in diagnosis of your condition as well as for ‘loss of amenity’ (which means the inability to do things you used to be able to do, such as sports, walking or housework).

There are guidelines in place for the amount payable depending on the loss you have experienced. Our team have extensive knowledge of the sums that could be paid for different types of injury and will be able to give you an idea of the range of payment you might expect to receive.

Special damages

Special damages are the quantifiable financial losses you have suffered. The main financial losses are often loss of earnings and future loss of earnings. Other examples of special damages include the cost of medical help not provided on the NHS, help with housework, care costs, travel expenses to medical appointments, prescription charges, special equipment and modification of your home.

The deadline for starting a claim is generally three years from the date on which you knew or should reasonably have known about the negligent action on the part of your medical practitioner.

In the case of a child, this three-year period does not start until they reach their 18^th birthday.

If you are thinking of suing the NHS for delayed diagnosis, you are advised to speak to an expert medical negligence solicitor as soon as possible.

If you ask us to represent you, we will start work straightaway, obtaining your medical records and establishing exactly what has happened. We will notify the medical authority and their insurer that you intend to make a claim and ask them whether liability is admitted.

We can ask our medical experts to prepare reports which will form the basis of your claim. It is often possible to settle a case out of court so that you would not need to go to a hearing. Our team are strong negotiators and have a proven track record of obtaining delayed diagnosis compensation payments for our clients.